San Diego moves to protect renters in condo conversions

SAN DIEGO - The San Diego City Council today tentatively
approved revising city regulations to better protect renters whose
apartments are being converted into condominiums.

The council voted 8-1 in favor of requiring property owners who
seek approval to convert rental housing units to for-sale
condominium units provide three months relocation assistance to
tenants earning less than the median income for the area.

Councilman Jim Madaffer voted against revising the
regulations.

"Condominium conversions are good because they are good for
individuals in that it provides them their best opportunity for
homeownership," Mayor Dick Murphy said. However, "we need to
balance the opportunity for homeownership with the concern for
renters."

Council members also voted to apply the city's recently adopted
inclusionary housing provisions to condominium conversions. The
provisions will require property owners who convert apartments into
condominiums to set aside a certain number of affordable units.

The council also required condominium conversions to meet all
local and state building and zoning regulations.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of rental units
that have been converted or are proposed to be converted to
condominiums over the past few years, according to a report to the
San Diego Planning Commission.

The recent increase in condominium conversions is a market
reaction to the severe shortage of affordable for-sale housing in
San Diego, coupled with some softening in the rental market, the
report said.

Home prices have increased by 15-20 percent per year in San
Diego during the past few years.

"Part of the American dream is home ownership," a condominium
conversion owner told the council. "If it wasn't for condo
conversions we would not have been able to realize that dream here
in San Diego."

Those opposed to the recent boom in condominium conversions
argued that the practice displaces renters who can't afford the
costs associated with purchasing a home.

The Council was trying to strike a balance between owners and
renters with today's proposal, Council member Toni Atkins said.

"I think today's proposal is balanced and fair," Atkins
said.

San Diego has one of the lowest home ownership rates of any
major city in the nation, with barely 50 percent of households
owning their own home, according to MarketPointe Realty Advisors, a
San Diego-based real estate analysis firm.

The average price of a converted condominium in San Diego County
is $238,000, compared to a new condominium at $378,000, according
to MarketPointe.

A second reading by the council is required before the revised
regulations go into effect.